A color photographic developer (hereinafter simply referred to as "color developer") using an aromatic primary amine color developing agent has been used for a long time for forming color images and at present plays a central role in color photographic image forming processes. However, as is well known, the aforesaid color developer is very liable to be oxidized by air and metals and if color images are formed using such a deteriorated color developer, undesirable photographic properties such as an increase of fog and a change of sensitivity and gradation occur.
Therefore, various means for improving the storage stability of color developers have been investigated and a method of using hydroxylamine and a sulfite ion together has been proposed as the most general means. However, such a means has disadvantages in that hydroxylamine generates ammonia when it is decomposed, which causes fog and also sulfite ion reacts with a competing compound of a color developing agent to reduce the coloring property and hence these components are not good preservatives.
Furthermore, for improving the stability of color developers, various kinds of preservatives and chelating agents have been investigated. For example, as preservatives, there are aromatic polyhydroxy compounds described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 49828/77, 160142/84 and 47038/81 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application") and U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,544, hydroxycarbonyl compounds described in U.S. Patent 3,615,503 and British Pat. No. 1,306,176, .alpha.-aminocarbonyl compounds described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 143020/77 and 89425/78, alkanolamines described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 3532/79, and metal salts described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 44148/82 and 53749/82. Also, as chelating agents, there are aminopolycarboxylic acids described in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 30496/73 and 30232/69, organic phosphonic acids described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 97347/81, Japanese Patent Publication No. 39359/81, and West German Pat. No. 2,227,639, phosphonocarboxylic acids described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 102726/77, 42730/78, 121127/79, 126241/80 and 65956/80, and other compounds described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 195845/83 and 203440/83 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 40900/88.
However, when these conventional techniques are used, the storage stability obtained is still insufficient or they exert some bad influences on the photographic properties and sufficient results have not yet been obtained by these techniques.
In particular, in a color developer containing no benzyl alcohol which is a problem for the prevention of pollution and the preparation of the developer, the coloring property is inevitably deteriorated and in such a system, since a preservative which acts as a competing compound remarkably reduces the coloring property, the aforesaid techniques are also insufficient.
Furthermore, a color photographic light-sensitive material containing a silver chlorobromide emulsion having high chlorine content is liable to form fog at color development as described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 95345/83 and 232342/84. In the case of using such a silver halide emulsion, the use of a preservative exhibiting dissolving property for the emulsion and having a more excellent preservative faculty is inevitable and in this content, the development of a novel excellent color developer has been desired.